1.  Somayya Tariq 2. Sabeen Akhtar 3. Atiqa Ambreen 4. Saba Riaz

1,2. PG Students of M.Phil, Deptt. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of the Punjab 3. Consultant of Chest Disease, Gulab Devi Chest Hospital, Lahore 4. Asstt. Prof. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of the Punjab.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To compare the efficiency of conventional diagnostic techniques and Insertion Sequence (IS)6110 based PCR assay for M. tuberculosis in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary specimens from tertiary care chest hospital.

Study Design: Observational study.  

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Gulab Devi Chest Hospital, Lahore from August to January 2013. 

Materials and Methods: A total of 1599 (1417 pulmonary and 182 extra-pulmonary) non-duplicate clinical specimens, obtained over a period of six months, were tested by conventional techniques such as Ziehl-Neelsen staining (ZN), Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium and Fluorescent staining. MTB was extracted through DNAzol method. Insertion Sequence (IS) 6110 based PCR assay was used for M. tuberculosis from pulmonary and extrapulmonary specimens. Of the 1599 specimens, 781 were suspect cases while 818 were MDR (follow up) cases. Mean age of TB patient was ±33 years. 18% of follow-ups and 20% of suspects were <20 year in age, 52% followups and 36% suspects were about 20-40 years,  and 30% follow-ups and 33% suspects were >40 years of age. Results: It was seen that, among MDR cases (follow-ups) 68% were males and 32% were females. Similarly, among TB-suspects, 58% were males and 42% were females. Of total 168 suspected pulmonary samples ZN (48.2.7%), fluorescent microscopy (79.7%), LJ culture (52.9%) and PCR (91.6%) were positive for M. tuberculosis. In total 143 suspected extra-pulmonary samples, ZN (34.95%), fluorescent microscopy (45.5%), LJ culture (39.8%) and PCR (87.4%) were positive.

Conclusion: In contrast to conventional methods of TB diagnosis, PCR is more quick, sensitive, reliable and cost effective technique.

Key Words: MDRs, Bacteriocins, Lactobacilli, Antibiotic Resistance, MAR, Antibacterial activity

Citation of article: Tariq S, Akhtar S, Ambreen A, Riaz S. Comparison of Conventional TB Diagnostic

Techniques with PCR IS6110 in Tertiary Care Chest Hospital Lahore Pakistan. Med Forum 2015;26(12):